s.h.i.+ Qingxue was surprised. “What are you doing?”

But Mo Junhao held her more tightly and said seriously, “There is such a fierce fire. It's dangerous to walk downstairs in the house. Perhaps many people are waiting for us on the first floor. I will take you to jump from the window to the back yard and then ride away.”

Then he hugged s.h.i.+ Qingxue and jumped to the stable in the back yard.

Without giving s.h.i.+ Qingxue any chance to protest, he held her waist and flew to the horse's back. Before the a.s.sa.s.sins waiting in the front yard chased them, they left the hotel on horseback.

Mo Junhao was excellent at riding and soon the hotel disappeared from sight.

s.h.i.+ Qingxue looked back and could only see some red light indistinctly, but the way ahead was in the darkness.

She could do nothing but hug Mo Junhao and remain still, but later she felt something wrong.

That group of a.s.sa.s.sins was chasing them.

Qingxue raised her head and met Mo Junhao's dark eyes. They noticed the worry in each other's eyes, but the way ahead was uncertain.

“Let's…”

Mo Junhao hesitated for a while.

s.h.i.+ Qingxue said immediately, “Go to the left. I hear the water, and it must be a river.”

Mo Junhao was still confused as why a river was a way to escape, but he still rushed to the left as she said.

They rode for a distance and found a surging river. They moved forward along the direction of the flowing water.

Three sharp arrows flew to them from the sky, and Mo Junhao waved his long sword to resist two arrows, but the last arrow was low and shot the horse's leg.

“Hiss!”

The horse screamed sadly and lost its balance. Mo Junhao had to hold s.h.i.+ Qingxue and give up the horse, jumping to the ground.

They rolled on the ground and then managed to stand steadily, but four or five a.s.sa.s.sins from behind caught up with them and surrounded them.

Mo Junhao protected s.h.i.+ Qingxue in his arm and wielded his sword to resist the a.s.sa.s.sins's attack.

They fought for nearly fifteen minutes, and the two realized that the group aimed at s.h.i.+ Qingxue and didn't want to hurt Mo Junhao. As long as he let her go, he could escape.

Mo Junhao had several wounds on his body. Even when s.h.i.+ Qingxue thought he might be unbale to endure it and would give up, he kept fighting at the risk of his own life. Blood could be seen everywhere.

“Take a breath!”

As soon as he stopped saying, Mo Junhao held s.h.i.+ Qingxue, jumped into the raging torrent and disappeared soon.

The three a.s.sa.s.sins left on the bank were petrified.

The leader was in a rage and slapped the fatty in his face, cursing, “b.a.s.t.a.r.d! Our master said he just wants to take s.h.i.+ Qingxue's life. Who permitted you to hurt His Highness?”

The fatty covered his face and felt wronged. “But you have seen that His Highness protected her as if she is his child. He would rather get injured than…”

Before he finished his words, the other side of his face was slapped. “If there is something wrong with His Highness, you can't even pay with your life.”

The shorty next to them said in a hurry, “His Highness is skilled in martial arts and wasn't seriously injured. He must be all right. But s.h.i.+ Qingxue is a girl who doesn't know any martial arts. She would surely die in the surging river. How about we go to receive His Highness downstream and collect s.h.i.+ Qingxue's body?”

The leader glanced at the shorty and remained silent. He thought, “It makes sense, but we can't be sure if there will be something different. If His Highness is really wounded, we will surely die. In another word, even if he is safe, would he treat us well after he knows that we are the chief criminals?”

He pondered for a while and coughed. “We have followed the master's order and tried to a.s.sa.s.sinate s.h.i.+ Qingxue all the way, but His Highness insisted on protecting her and ran away with her. That's what happened today. Do you understand?”

The two were stunned. The fatty still wanted to say something, but the shorty stepped on his foot and answered hurriedly, “Yes, I understand. We will say as you told.”

“Okay, go back to report.” The leader took another look at the rapid stream and then walked back with the two.

Three days ago, in a hidden forest at the foot of the Qingluo Mountain, the s.h.i.+ Army had set up a camp here.

“We have been here for more than half a month and attacked several times, but every time, the surrounding mountain defense would be in the way, or we would be tricked by the weird array on the mountain. Now His Majesty has sent three imperial edicts successively and told us to conquer the Qingluo Mountain within one month. What should we do?”

A deputy general of the s.h.i.+ Army, Liu Caishu sighed with a worried face.

Another deputy general Fu Chuan was more nervous than Liu Caishu. “His Majesty doesn't know about Qingluo Mountain's terrain but pushed us so hard. Before we got ready, he just forced us to attack. We are not from his army, so he won't suffer any loss, right?”

“Fine. Stop complaining,” s.h.i.+ Junhe interrupted them indifferently and looked at the map. “Now we have more than ten thousand soldiers. If we confront a group of bandits with bare hands, it's very easy to defeat them. Even if they have extremely solid defense installations, we have capable men to break them. Only the array with five elements is weird and hard to attack.”

He thought for a while and then added, “Yesterday, I told someone to send a letter at top speed to a good friend of mine in Fan City, Shang Ping. He is proficient in strange defense and armor. If he can come, we might be able to defeat the Qingluo Mountain.”

“Shang Ping?” Wenren Chi repeated the name in a low voice, with a complicated expression in his eyes.

s.h.i.+ Junhe thought that Wenren Chi hadn't remembered him and explained with a smile, “Chi, you must have heard of this name, right? Shang Ping, your father and I were best friends. But he is used to be loafing around and has lived in seclusion in Fan City since long ago. He is unwilling to come out easily.

Speaking of which, he was closer to your father. I didn't think of it earlier. It would be more proper if you sent a letter.”

He hoped that Wenren Chi could keep in touch with his late father's friends to have more backups.

Hearing that, Wenren Chi stayed silent for a while and then responded, “Then I will send a letter to Uncle Ping.”

s.h.i.+ Junhe thought it was fine, so he told Wenren Chi to write the letter. Then he continued to talk with Liu Caishu about the military situation.

Wenren Chi quickly arranged everything, and the one he sent was familiar with the terrain and might reach Fan City with a shortcut earlier than the first messenger.

Late at night, outside the camp, he looked at the direction of Fan City and stood silently for a long time. Till his legs were numb, he came back to reality and sighed deeply before turning to walk back.

There was a horse's voice from behind out of the blue. Wenren Chi looked back and saw the subordinate he had left in the capital city jump off the horse in a hurry and kneel in front of him. “Master, bad news.”

While speaking, he gave a letter to Wenren Chi.

Wenren Chi opened the letter and read it. With his grim face turning dark, he restrained his anger and asked, “When did it happen?”

“Maybe three or four days ago. As soon as I got the news, I sent people to search in the city secretly but didn't get any information. We only confirm that she is not in the mansion, so I came to report immediately…”

Wenren Chi was so angry that he clenched his fists and trembled. He crumbled the letter. “Rubbis.h.!.+ You can't even guard a person. Do you know what she was going to do?”

The man who was cursed knew that he neglected his duty and felt guilty. He didn't dare to hide anything. “Madam keeps it a secret, and not many people knew it, but I heard that Madam had sent somebody to guard the south gate of the city for one day, so I guess that she has come to…”

As if his heart was struck by something, Wenren Chi closed his eyes and managed with effort to control his emotion and continue listening to the man.

“But I came to the Qingluo Mountain and didn't find any clues all the way, so I can't be sure…”

“Fine. No more words.” Hearing that she wasn't found, Wenren Chi got impatient and didn't want to listen anymore. He waved his hand to tell the man to leave and then walked fast back to the general's tent.

s.h.i.+ Junhe was alone in the tent. As Wenren Chi entered, s.h.i.+ Junhe happened to raise his head.

They noticed the anxiety and worry in each other's eyes and asked at the same time,

“What's wrong?”

“What's up?”

Both of them were stunned and then said,

“You first!”

“You first!”

They looked at each other for a while. Wenren Chi, who was always humble, couldn't stand it unexpectedly and said in a hoa.r.s.e voice, “Qingxue has run away from home, and n.o.body knows where she is. She might be coming here.”

“What?” s.h.i.+ Junhe was astonished and spluttered, “Why? Why did she come to the battlefield? She is so mischievous.”

But then he felt something wrong. “How did you know?”

Wenren Chi's face stiffened, and he opened his mouth several times, but he couldn't say a word.

He was not used to lying to s.h.i.+ Junhe, but he couldn't explain why he could get the news that s.h.i.+ Junhe didn't know yet.

Seeing Wenren Chi's expression, s.h.i.+ Junhe got soft-hearted and didn't ask anymore but said, “Just now, His Majesty sent three imperial edicts in a row and demanded us to take action as soon as possible. We can't stay here for long without doing anything. The ones who disobey the order will be punished according to the military law.”

Wenren Chi frowned and felt it difficult. “We attacked three times and lost twenty percent of soldiers. If we launch another attack rashly, there is slim chance to win.”

s.h.i.+ Junhe understood it, but the imperial edicts were in front of them and the messenger was outside right now. If the s.h.i.+ Army didn't do anything, it meant they disobeyed the order.

“Arrange an elite team of thirty soldiers tomorrow, and you lead them to attack the mountain from the side cliff again.”

Wenren Chi nodded silently and didn't care about the danger of this task at all but asked, “Shall we send some people to look for Qingxue along the way? I am worried about her. She is a girl. If she is in danger on the way, what should she do?”

The worry in his eyes was sincere and he was even more concerned about her than his own safety. s.h.i.+ Junhe was moved, but he had to a.n.a.lyze the situation calmly, “Since she can avoid the chase of many people, she must have some way. Even if we go to look for her, we won't be able to find her.

If she really came to the Qingluo Mountain, we just need to wait here. She will show up sooner or later.”

As he spoke, he looked confident and was sure that s.h.i.+ Qingxue could come here.

Wenren Chi didn't continue with this topic and turned to leave. He would prepare for the attack tomorrow.